margin Attribute | margin Property

Sets or retrieves the width of the left, right, bottom, and top margins of the object.

Syntax

HTML	{ margin: sMargin }
Scripting	object.style.margin [ = sMargin ]

Possible Values

sMargin

String that specifies up to four of the following space-delimited values: auto Value is equal to the opposite margin. width Floating-point number, followed by an absolute units designator (cm, mm, in, pt, pc, or px) or a relative units designator (em or ex). For more information about the supported length units, see CSS Length Units. percentage Integer, followed by a %. The value is a percentage of the width of the parent object.

The property is read/write with a default value of 0; the cascading style sheets (CSS) attribute is not inherited.

Expressions can be used in place of the preceding value(s), as of Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5. For more information, see dynamic properties.

Remarks

This is a composite property that specifies up to four width values, in the following order: top, right, bottom, left. If one width value is specified, it is used for all four sides. If two width values are specified, the first is used for the top and bottom borders, and the second is used for left and right borders. If three width values are specified, they are used for the top, right/left, and bottom borders, respectively. Negative margins are supported except for top and bottom margins on inline objects.

As of Internet Explorer 4.0, you can specify length values relative to the height of the element's font (em) or the height of the letter "x" (ex).

In Internet Explorer 3.0, the specified margin value is added to the default value of the object. In Internet Explorer 4.0 and later, the margin value is absolute. The margin properties do not work with the TD and TR objects in Internet Explorer 4.0, but they do work in Internet Explorer 3.0. To set margins in the cell for Internet Explorer 4.0 and later, apply the margin to an object, such as DIV or P, within the TD.

To use this property, inline objects must have an absolute position or layout. Element layout is set by providing a value for the height property or the width property.

Margins are always transparent.

Example

The following examples use the margin attribute and the margin property to change the margin of the object.

This example uses the IMG object as a selector to set the margin of images to 1 centimeter.

Sample Code

<STYLE>
    IMG { margin:1cm }
</STYLE>

This feature requires Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the icon below to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.

This example uses inline scripting to set the margin of the image to 5 millimeters when an onmouseover event occurs.

<IMG src="sphere.jpg" onmouseover="this.style.margin='5mm'">

This feature requires Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the icon below to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.

Applies To

[ Object Name ] Platform Version Win16: Win32: Mac: Unix: WinCE: Version data is listed when the mouse hovers over a link, or the link has focus.

BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, BUTTON, CAPTION, CENTER, currentStyle, custom, DD, DIR, DIV, DL, DT, EMBED, FIELDSET, FORM, Hn, HR, IFRAME, IMG, INPUT type=button, INPUT type=checkbox, INPUT type=file, INPUT type=image, INPUT type=password, INPUT type=radio, INPUT type=reset, INPUT type=submit, INPUT type=text, ISINDEX, LI, LISTING, MARQUEE, MENU, OBJECT, OL, P, PLAINTEXT, PRE, runtimeStyle, SPAN, style, TABLE, TD, TEXTAREA, TH, UL, XMP

See Also

CSS Length Units

Back to top

Did you find this topic useful? Suggestions for other topics? write us!

© 1999 microsoft corporation. all rights reserved. terms of use.